title: Expression of Tie2/Tek in breast tumour vasculature provides a new marker for evaluation of tumour angiogenesis.
abstract: Endothelial receptor tyrosine kinases may play important roles in pathological vascular growth, particularly in tumours. In this study, immunohistochemistry was used to evaluate the expression of a novel endothelial receptor tyrosine kinase, Tie2/Tek, in the endothelium of vascular 'hotspots' in normal breast tissue (n = 10), benign breast lesions (n = 10) and in breast tumours (n = 123). Tie2 expression was detected in the endothelium of all breast tissues examined. However, the strongest expression of Tie-2 was seen in vascular 'hot spots' within the inflammatory infiltrate at the periphery of invasive tumours. Moreover, the proportion of Tie2-positive vessels (Tie2 counts/CD31 counts) was significantly higher in breast tumours than the proportion of Tie2-positive vessels in either normal breast tissue or benign breast lesions (P = 0.004 and 0.0001 respectively). These data are consistent with a role for Tie2 in tumour angiogenesis and demonstrate the potential use of Tie2 expression as a novel marker of the tumour vasculature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
authors.forename: K G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Coogan
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Berry
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marks
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Iglehart
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Kontos
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sankar
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Trogan
mesh_terms: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D001940:Breast / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000201:enzymology; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000201:enzymology; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000201:enzymology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000097:blood / Q000201:enzymology*; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D042787:Receptor, TIE-2
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D042787:Receptor, TIE-2